USC hands No. 16 Oregon its first loss

Eugene, OR (Sports Network) – Nick Young dumped in 19 points and pulled down
seven rebounds as the USC Trojans upset the 16th-ranked Oregon Ducks with an
84-82 victory at McArthur Court.

Taj Gibson added 18 points and 13 rebounds and Gabriel Pruitt contributed 18
points for the Trojans (12-4, 2-1 Pac-10), who have won three of their last
four contests.

Aaron Brooks had a game-high 31 points and added five assists while Maarty
Leunen added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Ducks (13-1, 1-1), who were
attempting to tie a school record for best start to a season.

USC was trailing by six points heading into the second half, but kept the game
close and grabbed the lead, 59-57, courtesy of consecutive three-pointers by
Pruitt with the last one coming with a little over 13 minutes to play.

An 8-2 run by the Trojans staked the team to a 74-67 lead, their largest of
the game.

A Leunen basket cut the Ducks deficit to 78-75 with a bit over two minutes to
play.

However, Pruitt hit three consecutive free throws for an 81-75 USC advantage
with 1:46 remaining.

Three-pointer’s by Brooks and Chamberlain Oguchi tied the game with under a
minute to play, but Young drained a jumper and Pruitt followed with a free
throw with five seconds left to seal the victory for USC.

It was a tight game throughout the first 10 minutes of the first half, but the
Trojans grabbed a 21-13 lead thanks to four consecutive points by Gibson with
the last two coming off free throws with a little over nine minutes to play.

An 11-0 run by the Ducks, with Adam Zahn scoring six points, gave the team a
28-25 lead with under five minutes left until the break.

USC briefly retook the lead thanks to a three-pointer by Pruitt to make it a
35-33 game.

Oregon, however, closed the half by scoring the last eight points and took a
41-35 lead into the locker room.

Game Notes

Oguchi, Zahn and Bryce Taylor each had 10 points for Oregon…Lodrick Stewart
contributed 14 points while Dwight Lewis added 10 points for USC…Oregon
connected on 42.3 percent of its shots while the Trojans shot a blistering
55.8 percent from the floor.